Replacing the awning fabric on an A&E model 8500 RV awning. (Part 1) By How-to Bob
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- Опубліковано 25 сер 2024
- Replacing the fabric on an A&E model 8500 RV awning. This awning is an 18' model. (Part 1) Removing the fabric from the awning. Look for (Part 2) to see how to replace the fabric. By How-to Bob
Check out part 2 here • Replacing the awning f...
Our replacement awning came yesterday, and in about two hours, 3 of us installed it without issue. It's 18 feet, so having 3 workers was helpful. We followed your videos to the "t" and it was easy! Best $250 investment we've made in our trailer in a long time. Thanks again!
Very nice job of de-mystifying this rather simple and cost-saving project. We have exactly the same awning on our rig, but this should help anyone with a similar one. Thanks!
Thanks for posting this. We did the awning yesterday after watching both videos. Worked like a charm. Wonderful work.
That's awesome, Happy camping.
Just repaired the torsion pressure on my awning following these instructions, Worked like a charm! Thanks.!!!
Thanks for watching.
i dont often comment on videos, but you guys did an amazing job, so good that i had to let you know. ordered my new fabric yesterday, cant wait to replace it
Thank you for posting your videos. We are now sporting a new awning and it was much easier than anticipated. Saved us a lot of money that can now go in the tank for trips.
Glad you were able to use the video to help. Happy Camping.
After viewing the two video, I am confident that I can save 300 bucks. I ordered a new awning on line and it is every bit as good as the factory version.
I have many smart friends at our winter resort with time on our hands and Medicare cards in their wallets - just in case.
I had same RV Awning model A&D 8500. Will replace sometime this year. Thanks for sharing video.
Thanks for watching.
Just finished replacing my awning. Excellent video, a huge help.Thanks
Your video worked like a charm. Saved a lot of money doing it myself. Thanks for posting!!
Thank you! Both videos (removal and installation) were exactly what we needed! We are doing this on Saturday. It will be so much easier because of your instructions. Well done! Thanks again!
Glad to hear that they were useful. Good luck on replacing your awning. You will be glad to have a new one, we sure were. Thanks for watching
Thanks for taking the time to make this video. The quality of the sound and video is great.
Thanks for watching. Happy Camping
Good info for the RV owner. Good job
Glad to hear this helped. Thanks for the comment, happy camping.
Glad to hear that this helped. Happy camping.
You don't need to remove both end caps unless you are going to replace the tension springs. Also use a larger drill bit to remove the pop roivits it will be much faster and much easier and you won't need the chisel. Just drill the head and stop. Don't drill out the entire rivot Also use the cotter pin that comes with the new awning to hold the spring tension instead of the vise grips and you won't have to wing/rewind the tension springs
Excellent! I'm ready for part 2!
just did my awning , can't thank you enough
thanks for the info on replacing an awning on a RV, it only took us 4 hrs., of re-rolling in order to get it right. It was not on the RV, for this job.
Thanks, Bob. Very helpful.
My ratchet lock broke on my awning and now I know how to take it apart. Thanks
The video was great, but our 2008 A&E was little different. I would recommend always taking the cam lock end cap off first because our end cap was held on with a through bolt and nut and the end cap did not stay on the awning shaft to unwind the spring. Also after removing the cam side torsion spring, there was still Spring tension on the awning tube, so hold onto the tube until you have the tension released off of both torsion springs. You will have to put the vice grips on the torsion spring shaft if your end caps come off like ours did. Not a bad job. Thanks for your video.
This video is intended to fit many different awnings but depending on the factory assembly they may be put together slightly different. Using this video as a guide most people should be able to accomplish replacing their own awning fabric saving them a lot of money. Thanks for watching.
Best to check your cap assembly, sometimes there's a gap in the cap, you may not need to drill out the rivets.
Always check first. Thanks for watching.
Glad to share hopefully it helped. Thanks
Thank u so much for posting this video
Thanks for watching.
We followed your instructions exactly but when it came time to remove the rail from the cap the tube spun wildly. Neither my helper or my self were hurt. The vise-grip did not slip I was still holding it firmly when the tube stopped spinning. At that point all the tension was removed. When we removed the rail from the other cap we found no tension. What did we do wrong?During re-assembly we used your estimate of 10-11 revolutions to both ends, the awning works great.The other thing that is completely wrong is my A&E model 8500 does not have a slit in the cap as your video shows, just a hole. We found that by twisting the new pull strap partly around the spline I could just barely work it through the hole. Then by removing the stitching that holds the rubber insert we got the entire strap through, then re-stitched the strap to the rubber insert.It would have been easier to insert the strap before the caps were put back on. I do not understand how the model 8500 could be that different. Mine is on a 2004 Winnebago.
Thanks force311999 that's good advice, however in this instance both end caps had to be removed because there was a a rubber spline that got crimped into place by the end caps. Also I wanted to have new rivets installed.
Thanks for the Video, Bill
Thank you, hope this helped.
Good job.
The reason for the smaller size drill bit when drilling the rivets is to not damage the plastic caps just in case the drill was to go too deep. I have found it better to safe than sorry. The awning that I purchased did not come with a cotter pin so I did not include this method in the video. Thanks
I suppose there are many different ways to do this replacement. This is just one way that obviously worked for the awning and fabric combination shown in the video. Both end caps were removed in this video because they had a rubber spline that was being held in place on both sides by both end caps. A good shot of the rubber spline can be seen in part 1 at 4:40 and again during the install video part 2 at :40. Please see previous comments.
something I did that you did not mention is I used a little wd40 and it made the awning slide into place alot easier
Thanks
Your video was very very helpful., thanks so much for sharing! I would just like to add for others out there that my awning is a 14 footer with the same style end caps as in the video. So for all of the questions about what size rivet, 3/16" dia. x 1/4" long fits perfect and appears to be the same exact size as the original.
Sounds good unless you have used a larger bit to drill the old ones out. That is one reason why I did not specify a size in the video. Thanks for commenting and watching the video.
Good point!
As noted below I replaced the awning 3 months ago and it works great....except the cord broke. Stitching came undone as I was rolling it up and it slammed back up but luckily no damage. I managed to pull it down and backup by tying a string to each end. But now I want to put in a new (better) cord. If I had not used the slot that had an open notch in the end caps then it would have been easy (I suppose that's what the end cap notch was for). One method is drill a 3/8 hole at a 45 degree angle into the slot about 2 inches from the end so it can slide in. But I was wondering if I can drill out the rivets and slip off the end cap an inch (not the one with the lock latch). Slide in the new cord and reattach the end cap. I was going to try this with the awning extended all the way but not raised up so it's easy to work on. There should be enough slack in the arms to pull the end cap off an inch. But I was wondering if there is any spring tension that would affect pulling the end cap off. I would have the awning locked in place by the latch on the other end. Any thoughts? Alan Brown
+Alan Brown It sounds like you have a solid plan that will work out pretty smooth, just take your time and be careful of the springs.
Question, once you remove the tension out of the awning is the roll hollow? Great video 🤩
Yes the roll is hollow. Hope this helps, thanks for watching.
iamtheav8r, I suppose you could take off just one cap but for me I wanted all the rivets to be new and match. Good question.
Thanks
Should camlock be set to up or down? And when you wind it back up, you leave it at that right? I don't think I did it right. My cam lock didn't click when I wound it back up
It should click when you retract the awning. sounds like the cam is in wrong if it doesn't. Hope this helps. Thanks for watching.
my A&E tube is smooth no grooves like the one shown and its bent. Mine is from the late 80's so, I assume they have changed and all are the same?
They are probably different, this video was done on a model 8500.
Thanks for watching.
It looks bad but you can smear clear or same color as your awning silicon 50 year type on top and bottom of the holes and fix the leaks and it does not effect roll up if you don't have the money for a new one .
+nisw1918 I guess that's one way to repair an awning. Thanks for the tip.
I need help. I bought a 97 Fleetwood motorhome. The a&e systems 2 step arms are broken. It has gas shocks on each arm, that are no good. It's not the carport style. I can't find replacement arms that screw on to the motorhome. Thanks in advance.
You should be able to take the shocks to an auto parts store and cross reference them to something that they have in store. Hope this helps.
Thanks for watching.
Can you just remove one end cap and slide the awning out there?
it possible to replace without removing awning off the trailer?
Our 16' awning has a metal weathershield on it....after speaking with Dometic, they say we can replace the fabric without replacing the shield. Are there any other steps we need to know about with the shield in place?
Just be careful when re-installing the new fabric so the metal shield does not damage the fabric, other than that it should be about the same. Thanks for watching.
I bought an RV. The metal awning roller is actually inside the RV, on the floor. there is also a package with a new fabric inside also. Question is, How do you determine how many turns are to place on the torsion spring? the awning fabric has been already removed. Thanks
It may take a few times to get it just right but I would start with 10-11 rotations, then temporarily set it up and try it to make sure it will retract all the way and that it is not too tight. On my awning it had 11 rotations. Hope this helps. Thanks for watching.
thanks, gonna give it a shot.
Let us know how it turns out, Thanks
Hi, have a question. Our awning tore completely away from the RV at the top while it was fully extended, how do we proceed with installing a new fabric in this case? Thanks!
+Leon Hobbs You would still follow the steps outlined in the video. The advantage you have is that you will not have to wrestle around with the big hunk of fabric, but the process will be the same. Thanks for watching.
I assume that you have release the spring tension on the other (rear) end of the awning tube by using the vise grip, even tho your otherwise excellent video does not show this step being done?
No assumptions are necessary, at 2:44 in the video it is mentioned that this process should be repeated for the other side. I just thought that the video was long enough without showing basically the same thing twice. Hope this helps with your assumptions. Happy camping and thanks for watching.
Can the old awning be cut about a foot from the top so the awning assembly can be removed easily. Then pull out the old awning from the top channel. Looks kind of cumbersome to hold the awning assembly while trying to slide it out of the channel.
Alan Brown I suppose that would work, and it may be easier. Let us know how that works out,it may save some time. Thanks for watching
I did cut the old fabric so it was easier to move the awning structure out of the way and so my neighbors could go on their way. But it was actually very easy to slide the old awning piece out of the top channel.
Other things I found out...
There are 2 springs so unwinding one side still leaves tension on the other end, which I didn't realize. So you'll need to do as the video shows and hold the tension while removing the arm on the side that does not have the latch. Then unwind it. By the way the spring tension isn't that great and a pair of vice grips does it easily. Note which way each end unwinds and the number of turns.
At first I took one cap off but ended up taking off both. After sliding the new awning into the roller grove (I used lots of silicon spray) the awning (from Awning Mart) had a section that is tucked into the adjacent a grove on the roller to create the drop down edge. 2 pieces of plastic cord have to inserted into the grove and it was hard to get both in from one side so I took the other cap off to slide the 2nd cord in from that side. But taking that cap off allowed me to spray the second spring with silicon lube. The caps are easy to rivet back on, my rivet sizes were 3/16 x 5/16 and I had to buy a box. I also forgot to insert the pull down cord into a channel and had to take a cap off again after riveting it on.
(After putting the caps back on I noticed the cap had a cut out for one channel that may be able to slide in a new awing without taking a cap off, not sure about this. But I needed to slide into a 2nd channels anyway for this awning. )
Sliding the new awning back on the RV is tricky and the more help the better, at least 3 people are needed. And do it slow to avoid snagging and tearing the new awnings. Then I realized I'd got the awning arms backwards (duh!) but was able to take them off and turn them without taking the awning back off the RV.
If I ever do it again it will be so much easier after doing it once.
That's awesome.
Since the awning slides out from just one end,I don't understand why both end caps are removed
Again, because the spline needs to be smashed by the end cap on each side to hold the awning in the center. hope you understand. Thanks for watching.
Where did you'all buy the awning fabric from?
There are many places online that sell just the fabric ready to go. Try doing a Google search or check ebay. for starters.
What size are the rivets?
The rivets are just a size I had...they are slightly larger than the ones that were in the factory awning, but really they can be any size.
so many things to do...
Always seems that way. Thanks for watching
waiting for UPS then its mine turn. wish me luck
Mike Jarrell You got this.
P.PDecor
funbro1, my father in law is trying to change his awning. He has a computer but very poor internet in the country. Can you send me the video in a way I can put on a jump drive and mail to him? Both parts 1&2?
Unfortunately I don't keep the videos once they are uploaded. Is there anyway you could video them on a camera or phone and send them to him?
*****
Good tip, thanks for the help.
you need to work on your terminology
Brandon Snyder I'm not sure what you mean, and I'm not sure why you commented?